Link round-up for 24 July 2011

Funny, I thought cats hated water.

Good point.

Another good point.

Harry Potter fans lack interest in rival fantasies.

Republicans' anti-drought strategy has a history.

Critics rave, or at least rant, about the new Palin movie, while die- hard fans are attacking Conor Friedersdorf.

And now a Bachmann movie? I feel a migraine coming on.

Science and faith work very differently.

Bill O'Reilly hasn't lost his touch for being stupid and offensive.

The greatest threat to Christianity today is.....the internet?

This week's featured artist is photographer Caren Alpert (found via Smartypants) who takes a very close look at food.

And please do check out Smartypants, the most interesting new (to me) political blog I've found recently. Her analysis of Obama's strategy is always intriguing.

Why aren't more women engineers? According to MRAs, they lack the patients for it.

Here's a short but interesting history of car record players.

An abandoned city falls into decay.

If these girls could change, there's hope for anyone (found via Plutocrap).

Here's a gripping video of the Japanese tsunami, as seen from inside a car caught up in it (found via Mendip).

If the heat is getting you down, stay away from these places (sent by Ranch Chimp).

Check out what your state is best and worst at.

A Christian fanatic says America should do what Muslim fanatics want.

In a major victory for sanity, the Texas Board of Education has unanimously rejected creationism for the state's science classes.

SWAAY, a new organization dedicated to educating the public about sex work, is seeking donations for its first project.

One particularly nasty website gets a taste of its own medicine.

The new breed of teabagger governors are far out of step with their states (be sure to scroll down to the table of approval ratings for individual governors, and note which ones are right at the bottom).

Why isn't the right-wing blogosphere getting more traffic?

Frum Forum is collecting examples of Bachmann-worship in the hope of inoculating the right against such absurdities in the future.

Drip, drip, drip.....

Jesus has his priorities.

Jobs, schmobs -- the Republicans have declared war on light bulb efficiency standards.

No, we were not founded as a Christian nation.

There are ways to handle preachy grandparents.

Parsley's Pics fact-checks an anti-Obama meme.

Godless laws and gay marriage are no threat to anyone's civil liberties. More here.

This strikes me as a likely contributor to the US's high health-care costs.

If you live in New York, avoid these food carts.

In a move even Scott Walker couldn't stomach, two Wisconsin Republicans tried to help a giant corporation market poison to children.

Why couldn't Borders compete? Taxes were the least of it.

Smartypants thinks the debt-ceiling fight is the death agony of teabaggerdom -- and argues against progressives following a similar course.

Groping the groper made Yukari Miyamae a minor folk hero.

The Republican party is becoming a religious movement (found via Republic of Gilead), and abandoning normal American politics. It's in the grip of ideological purism similar to that which crippled the Democrats decades ago. Such radicalism may explain the new group Republicans for Obama (found via Hello Mr. President).

Here's the encouraging story of yet another Muslim who escaped Islam.

If you think racism isn't a problem any more, read this.

The Christian Right warns the Republican party: Don't nominate Romney. But candidates aren't flocking to the theocratic "Family Leader" pledge (found via Republic of Gilead).

Perry has a history of flirtation with groups that glorify treason. His upcoming prayer rally will feature a passel of fundamentalist crackpots (more here), and the Christian Right is his main base of support. But during his governorship, Texas has taken the lead in one area.

A map shows the most popular names in each European country.

Here's a handy graph of British newspapers (one could easily imagine a similar one for ours).

Britain's Guardian newspaper, which exposed the Murdoch phone- hacking scandal, looks at American rightists' reaction to it.

EU-driven austerity policies force ordinary Greeks into poverty, while the wealthy continue to evade taxes (sound familiar?).

Spanish anti-austerity protesters march on Madrid.

Britain's Business Secretary denounces the threat which failure to raise the US debt ceiling could pose to the world economy.

The EU's latest bail-out for Greece is being hailed as a "new epoch" for the euro, but the real problems are unresolved and growing. Simon Jenkins declares it another step toward fiscal union and eventual collapse.

PZ Myers looks at the Norwegian mass murderer's manifesto, and finds much that sounds depressingly familiar; more on that here. Lady Atheist discusses the psychology of mass killers.

This weekend is the anniversary of the liberation of Majdanek, the first Nazi concentration camp to be reached by the allies. Pictures here.

The Iranian resistance tries to revitalize its cause with a new manifesto.

"Just show us projects and development, no fancy ideas. We'll vote for the party of bread."

What an ego! Check out the size of the new Qaddhafi portrait.

China's new bullet-train network suffers its first disaster.

Well, this is better than bombing Iran, at least for now.

Ever wonder what happened to that fleeing girl in the famous Vietnam war photo? (found via Blitherypoop).

Here are some differences between the US and Japan.

The Viking invaders of medieval England included many women, implying colonization rather than raiding.